Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the shows The Last of Us and The Walking Dead.Since debuting on HBO in mid-January 2023, The Last Of Us has blown up in popularity. Based on the video game of the same name, the series has been drawing a lot of comparisons to AMC’s The Walking Dead, another popular post-apocalyptic, pandemic-inspired drama.
Indeed, while both The Last of Us and The Walking Dead have their own distinct storylines, they do share some parallels. This starts right from the onset of the outbreak in the first episode of both shows. Some of the similarities between the shows, which involve scenarios, settings and even characters, are more pronounced than others.
1 The Walkers Want Flesh
In both shows, there are, for lack of a better term, walking-undead-former-humans who have been infected in some way. The Last Of Us' zombie-like creatures are far more agile and perceptive than the seemingly brainless, slow-moving ones on The Walking Dead. But one thing they do share in common is that they want to feast on human flesh.
This commonality between both shows has led to some gruesome scenes of the undead crouched down over top of the dead, sometimes still living, bodies of others. For The Walking Dead, the sole reason is to fuel themselves, and once they get their hands on a human, it's feasting time, making The Walking Dead one of the best zombie shows to watch for such cringy yet compelling scenes. In The Last of Us, however, the eaters are also looking to spread the virus, and do so in unique ways that make it even better.
2 The Natural-Born Leader Protagonist
The Last of Us begins with the protagonist Joel, who quickly emerges as a natural-born leader. His ability to lead is first shown when he and his brother discover that something terrible is happening and they escape with Joel’s teenage daughter to find a safe haven. In The Walking Dead, meanwhile, the protagonist Rick Grimes was similarly a natural leader who people trusted and wanted to follow.
Joel might not have been a police sheriff like Rick Grimes, but the two both organically bring together others to hash out a plan. While, following the death of his daughter, Joel apparently took a more Daryl Dixon-like loner route, his leadership skills are still evident, even 20 years into the future, as are Rick’s more than a decade since the apocalyptic scenario began on that show.
3 The Child Who Gets Injured
Teenager Sarah sadly meets her end in the first episode of The Last of Us. While it takes much longer in The Walking Dead for Sophia to perish at the hands of a walker bite (followed by a gunshot to the head after reanimating), the concept of a young teen or pre-teen who gets injured or killed is shared among the two shows.
Even though The Last of Us only recently begun, Sarah’s death was arguably just as gut-wrenching as Sophia’s. More so, Joel’s reaction as he clutched her dead body was reminiscent of Carol when she fell to the ground, distraught at the sight of her dead daughter.
4 The Sassy Child
The scene-stealer in The Last of Us is Ellie, the teenage girl Joel is tasked with escorting across the U.S., believing she might hold the key to the cure in this. That's a good thing since Ellie is tremendously important to the plot of The Last of Us. Aside from this storyline being similar to the one in The Walking Dead whereby Abraham and Rosita travel with Eugene believing he knows where to find a cure, Ellie’s general personality is similar to other kids from The Walking Dead.
Most notably, she can be likened to Judith, another child born in the apocalypse who only knows the world prior from books. They are both sassy, proficient with a knife (and a gun), and fiercely independent. The two young girls might have been friends had they existed in the same TV universe.
5 Communities Coming Together
Community was a big part of The Walking Dead and will likely continue to be through its many upcoming spin-offs, including Daryl Dixon, Walking Dead; Dead City, and the untitled Rick and Michonne spin-off. The communities depicted thus far on The Last of Us aren’t quite as tight-knit and more so run like military outfits than hapless groups of survivors coming together to figure things out.
But the sense of community is felt among those who work within the quarantine zone managed by FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) as well as the outcast group the Fireflies who are trying to start their own revolution. The set-up is far more tactical and structured in The Last of Us, but while the communities might not be as sweet and innocent as people like Daryl, Carol, Andrea and Michonne from all walks of life coming together on The Walking Dead, they exist, nonetheless.
6 A Post-Apocalyptic Scenario
The most obvious similarity between the two shows is that they both follow a post-apocalyptic scenario whereby the survivors of a global pandemic are left to fend for themselves. They must scour for food, water, and other resources, fight off enemies and do whatever is necessary to survive.
In both cases, it’s an infection that effectively leads to the end of civilization as it has been known up to that point. The city, and likely world, is in ruins with buildings abandoned and collapsed, structures worn down, plant life demolished, and most humans long gone.
7 The Onset Of An Outbreak
One of the worst decisions The Walking Dead has ever made is keeping the origins of the pandemic under wraps for so long. In fact, it's only beginning to come to the surface now that the show has officially ended and several spin-offs are in the works that will explore the survivors and their search for answers. On The Last Of Us, fans know from the outset that it was a mutation in a genus called Cordyceps that caused the outbreak and the symptoms. While the cause is different, on both shows, the outbreak infects humans and turns them into some form of flesh-eating monster.
The Last of Us shows a mycologist in Jakarta being called in to examine a specimen, reacting in horror to what she sees because she knows what it means. On The Walking Dead, meanwhile, Rick learns from Dr. Edwin Jenner at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) that everyone is infected and reanimates when dead, whether bitten or not. These two authoritative figures are key to a part in both shows that adds a sense of reality to a moment when someone is aware of what’s about to happen before it does.
8 Grotesque And Unique Walker Types
The Walking Dead was known for its prosthetics and make-up work, creating some of the most memorable zombies ever on television. These included the bloated well walker Glenn encountered in an early season, charred and burnt walkers, and Winslow, the Heaps walker who was covered in armor and spikes, making him virtually unkillable.
On The Last of Us, the few walkers that have been revealed thus far have their own unique characteristics. Fans learned that they can hear very well but cannot see, which makes sense given their monstrous, mushroom-like heads that suggest a fungal infection. Then there’s the memorable walker kiss scene with Tess, whereby one open-mouth kisses her, tentacles squirming out from his lips. Both shows have zombies that are equal parts horrifying and fascinating.
9 Meeting People Along The Way
Joel and Ellie are bound to meet several people along the way as they head out on their journey on The Last of Us, just like Shane, Lori and Carl did on The Walking Dead before Rick woke up from his coma and found his way back to them. For a time, those three adults were one of the best The Walking Dead trios. A few additional characters have appeared on The Last of Us, like Frank and Bill, two survivalists living in an isolated town that the pair come across.
Meanwhile, other characters that will be introduced in upcoming episodes of The Last of Us include Kathleen, the leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas, two young brothers named Henry and Sam who are hiding from the movement, and a married couple Marlon and Florence who live in the wilderness. Chances are all these characters will have counterparts on The Walking Dead who fans can liken them to, and some will be classified as villains and others allies.
10 The General Look and Feel
Both shows have a generally ominous look and feel with elaborate sets that include a lot of darkness and provide a chilling sense of doom. Buildings are rundown or even demolished, plant life is all but non-existent, and animals appear to be gone as well. The idea of dead bodies surrounding everyone, everywhere has become commonplace.
The Walking Dead didn't do a time jump to delve deeper into how badly things had gotten until much later in the series. But both are depicting a world in ruins long after the initial onset of the virus.